Description

Book Synopsis
The second edition of Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation is both an introduction to the cultures of Africa and a history of the interpretations of those cultures. Key essays explore the major issues and debates through a combination of classic articles and the newest research in the field.
  • Explores the dynamic processes by and through which scholars have described and understood African history and culture
  • Includes selections from anthropologists, historians, philosophers, and critics who collectively reveal the interpenetration of ideas and concepts within and across disciplines, regions, and historical periods
  • Offers a combined focus on ethnography and theory, giving students the means to link theory with data and perspective with practice
  • Newly revised and updated edition of this popular text with 14 brand new chapters and two new sections: Conflict and Violent Transformations; and Development, Governa

    Trade Review
    REVIEWS OF FIRST EDITION:

    "Here is an excellent anthology that illustrates magnificently processes of Africa's invention, the complexity of her cultures, the paradoxes and predicament of discourses that claim to render her being." V. Y. Mudimbe Stanford University.

    "A volume for all students and teachers seriously interested in understanding the unity and diversity of African cultures, and engaging in a dialogue with African Studies literary ancestors and their creative and critical successors. Grinker and Steiner have offered a doorway for those who dare to embrace the masters of the field and join new academic worlds in the making." Sulayman S. Nyang, Professor, Howard University and Director of the African Voices Project, Smithsonian Institute.

    "Perspectives on Africa is a much needed addition to African studies and literature. They attempt, quite successfully, to place each article within, not only an historical time frame, but also within a theoretical progression. Its bibliographies contain a useful starting point and reference on all the major trends and subjects." Sean Pratt, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge.



    Table of Contents

    Acknowledgments x

    List of Maps xiv

    List of Figures xv

    List of Plates xvii

    List of Tables xviii

    Introduction: Africa in Perspective 1

    Part I Representation and Discourse 19

    Introduction 21

    1 Africa Observed: Discourses of the Imperial Imagination 31
    Jean and John Comaroff

    2 The Meaning of Our Work 44
    Cheikh Anta Diop

    3 Europe Upside Down: Fallacies of the New Afrocentrism 48
    Kwame Anthony Appiah

    4 Discourse of Power and Knowledge of Otherness 55
    V. Y. Mudimbe

    Part II From Tribe to Ethnicity: Kinship and Social Organization 61

    Introduction 63

    5 The Nuer: Time and Space 71
    E. E. Evans-Pritchard

    6 The Illusion of Tribe 83
    Aidan W. Southall

    7 Ethnicity in Southern African History 95
    Leroy Vail

    Part III Economics as a Cultural System 109

    Introduction 111

    8 Lele Economy Compared with the Bushong 123
    Mary Douglas

    9 Research on an African Mode of Production 139
    Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch

    10 The Cattle of Money and the Cattle of Girls among the Nuer, 1930–83 151
    Sharon Hutchinson

    Part IV Hunter-Gatherers in Africa 167

    Introduction 169

    11 The Lesson of the Pygmies 175
    Colin M. Turnbull

    12 Houses in the Rainforest: Gender and Ethnicity among the Lese and Efe in Zaire 184
    Roy Richard Grinker

    13 Land Filled with Flies: The Evolution of Illusion 200
    Edwin N. Wilmsen

    14 Foragers, Genuine or Spurious? Situating the Kalahari San in History 219
    Jacqueline S. Solway and Richard B. Lee

    Part V Witchcraft, Science, and Rationality: The Translation of Culture 237

    Introduction 239

    15 Conversations on Rain-making 245
    David Livingstone

    16 The Notion of Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events 249
    E. E. Evans-Pritchard

    17 Understanding a Primitive Society 257
    Peter Winch

    18 The Moral Economy of Witchcraft: An Essay in Comparative History 270
    Ralph A. Austen

    Part VI Ancestors, Gods, and the Philosophy of Religion 283

    Introduction 285

    19 Conversations with Ogotemmêli 291
    Marcel Griaule

    20 African Philosophy, Myth and Reality 302
    Paulin J. Hountondji

    21 Ancestors as Elders in Africa 314
    Igor Kopytoff

    Part VII Arts, Aesthetics, and Heritage 323

    Introduction 325

    22 Humorous Masks and Serious Politics among the Afikpo Igbo 335
    Simon Ottenberg

    23 Art, Identity, Boundaries: Postmodernism and Contemporary African Art 348
    Olu Oguibe

    24 As Plato Duly Warned: Music, Politics, and Social Change in Coastal East Africa 354
    Kelly M. Askew

    25 In Place of Slavery: Fashioning Coastal Identity 372
    Bayo Holsey

    Part VIII Sex and Gender Studies in Africa: Economy and Society 379

    Introduction 381

    26 The Economics of Polygamy 389
    Ester Boserup

    27 “Sitting on a Man”: Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions of Igbo Women 399
    Judith Van Allen

    28 Virginity Testing: Managing Sexuality in a Maturing HIV/AIDS Epidemic 411
    Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala

    Part IX Europe in Africa: Colonization 423

    Introduction 425

    29 The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa: Methods of Ruling Native Races 431
    Frederick D. Lugard

    30 How Europe Underdeveloped Africa 439
    Walter Rodney

    31 The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa 450
    Terence Ranger

    32 Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary 462
    Ngugi wa Thiong’o

    Part X Nations and Nationalism 471

    Introduction 473

    33 Negritude: A Humanism of the Twentieth Century 477
    Léopold Sédar Senghor

    34 On National Culture 484
    Frantz Fanon

    35 Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Modernity: The Paradox of Mau Mau 498
    Bruce J. Berman

    36 The Invisible Face: Masks, Ethnicity, and the State in Côte d’Ivoire 514
    Christopher B. Steiner

    Part XI Violent Transformations: Conflict and Displacement 521

    Introduction 523

    37 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa 531
    Max Gluckman

    38 Fighting for the Rainforest: War, Youth and Resources in Sierra Leone 543
    Paul Richards

    39 Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 555
    Christopher C. Taylor

    40 Where to Be an Ancestor? Reconstituting Socio-spiritual Worlds among Displaced Mozambicans 569
    Stephen Lubkemann

    Part XII Development, Governance, and Globalization 583

    Introduction 585

    41 Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt 595
    James Ferguson

    42 Development Aid and Structural Violence: The Case of Rwanda 609
    Peter Uvin

    43 Nigerian Scams as Political Critique: Globalization, Inequality and 419 616
    Daniel Jordan Smith

    44 The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly 629
    Jean-François Bayart

    45 “Govern Yourselves!” Democracy and Carnage in Northern Mozambique 644
    Harry G. West

    46 Nuer-American Passages 660
    Dianna Shandy

    Index 671

Perspectives on Africa

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    A Paperback / softback by Roy Richard Grinker, Stephen C. Lubkemann, Christopher B. Steiner

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      Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
      Publication Date: 23/04/2010
      ISBN13: 9781405190602, 978-1405190602
      ISBN10: 1405190604
      Also in:
      African history Anthropology

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      The second edition of Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation is both an introduction to the cultures of Africa and a history of the interpretations of those cultures. Key essays explore the major issues and debates through a combination of classic articles and the newest research in the field.
      • Explores the dynamic processes by and through which scholars have described and understood African history and culture
      • Includes selections from anthropologists, historians, philosophers, and critics who collectively reveal the interpenetration of ideas and concepts within and across disciplines, regions, and historical periods
      • Offers a combined focus on ethnography and theory, giving students the means to link theory with data and perspective with practice
      • Newly revised and updated edition of this popular text with 14 brand new chapters and two new sections: Conflict and Violent Transformations; and Development, Governa

        Trade Review
        REVIEWS OF FIRST EDITION:

        "Here is an excellent anthology that illustrates magnificently processes of Africa's invention, the complexity of her cultures, the paradoxes and predicament of discourses that claim to render her being." V. Y. Mudimbe Stanford University.

        "A volume for all students and teachers seriously interested in understanding the unity and diversity of African cultures, and engaging in a dialogue with African Studies literary ancestors and their creative and critical successors. Grinker and Steiner have offered a doorway for those who dare to embrace the masters of the field and join new academic worlds in the making." Sulayman S. Nyang, Professor, Howard University and Director of the African Voices Project, Smithsonian Institute.

        "Perspectives on Africa is a much needed addition to African studies and literature. They attempt, quite successfully, to place each article within, not only an historical time frame, but also within a theoretical progression. Its bibliographies contain a useful starting point and reference on all the major trends and subjects." Sean Pratt, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge.



        Table of Contents

        Acknowledgments x

        List of Maps xiv

        List of Figures xv

        List of Plates xvii

        List of Tables xviii

        Introduction: Africa in Perspective 1

        Part I Representation and Discourse 19

        Introduction 21

        1 Africa Observed: Discourses of the Imperial Imagination 31
        Jean and John Comaroff

        2 The Meaning of Our Work 44
        Cheikh Anta Diop

        3 Europe Upside Down: Fallacies of the New Afrocentrism 48
        Kwame Anthony Appiah

        4 Discourse of Power and Knowledge of Otherness 55
        V. Y. Mudimbe

        Part II From Tribe to Ethnicity: Kinship and Social Organization 61

        Introduction 63

        5 The Nuer: Time and Space 71
        E. E. Evans-Pritchard

        6 The Illusion of Tribe 83
        Aidan W. Southall

        7 Ethnicity in Southern African History 95
        Leroy Vail

        Part III Economics as a Cultural System 109

        Introduction 111

        8 Lele Economy Compared with the Bushong 123
        Mary Douglas

        9 Research on an African Mode of Production 139
        Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch

        10 The Cattle of Money and the Cattle of Girls among the Nuer, 1930–83 151
        Sharon Hutchinson

        Part IV Hunter-Gatherers in Africa 167

        Introduction 169

        11 The Lesson of the Pygmies 175
        Colin M. Turnbull

        12 Houses in the Rainforest: Gender and Ethnicity among the Lese and Efe in Zaire 184
        Roy Richard Grinker

        13 Land Filled with Flies: The Evolution of Illusion 200
        Edwin N. Wilmsen

        14 Foragers, Genuine or Spurious? Situating the Kalahari San in History 219
        Jacqueline S. Solway and Richard B. Lee

        Part V Witchcraft, Science, and Rationality: The Translation of Culture 237

        Introduction 239

        15 Conversations on Rain-making 245
        David Livingstone

        16 The Notion of Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events 249
        E. E. Evans-Pritchard

        17 Understanding a Primitive Society 257
        Peter Winch

        18 The Moral Economy of Witchcraft: An Essay in Comparative History 270
        Ralph A. Austen

        Part VI Ancestors, Gods, and the Philosophy of Religion 283

        Introduction 285

        19 Conversations with Ogotemmêli 291
        Marcel Griaule

        20 African Philosophy, Myth and Reality 302
        Paulin J. Hountondji

        21 Ancestors as Elders in Africa 314
        Igor Kopytoff

        Part VII Arts, Aesthetics, and Heritage 323

        Introduction 325

        22 Humorous Masks and Serious Politics among the Afikpo Igbo 335
        Simon Ottenberg

        23 Art, Identity, Boundaries: Postmodernism and Contemporary African Art 348
        Olu Oguibe

        24 As Plato Duly Warned: Music, Politics, and Social Change in Coastal East Africa 354
        Kelly M. Askew

        25 In Place of Slavery: Fashioning Coastal Identity 372
        Bayo Holsey

        Part VIII Sex and Gender Studies in Africa: Economy and Society 379

        Introduction 381

        26 The Economics of Polygamy 389
        Ester Boserup

        27 “Sitting on a Man”: Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions of Igbo Women 399
        Judith Van Allen

        28 Virginity Testing: Managing Sexuality in a Maturing HIV/AIDS Epidemic 411
        Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala

        Part IX Europe in Africa: Colonization 423

        Introduction 425

        29 The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa: Methods of Ruling Native Races 431
        Frederick D. Lugard

        30 How Europe Underdeveloped Africa 439
        Walter Rodney

        31 The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa 450
        Terence Ranger

        32 Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary 462
        Ngugi wa Thiong’o

        Part X Nations and Nationalism 471

        Introduction 473

        33 Negritude: A Humanism of the Twentieth Century 477
        Léopold Sédar Senghor

        34 On National Culture 484
        Frantz Fanon

        35 Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Modernity: The Paradox of Mau Mau 498
        Bruce J. Berman

        36 The Invisible Face: Masks, Ethnicity, and the State in Côte d’Ivoire 514
        Christopher B. Steiner

        Part XI Violent Transformations: Conflict and Displacement 521

        Introduction 523

        37 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa 531
        Max Gluckman

        38 Fighting for the Rainforest: War, Youth and Resources in Sierra Leone 543
        Paul Richards

        39 Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 555
        Christopher C. Taylor

        40 Where to Be an Ancestor? Reconstituting Socio-spiritual Worlds among Displaced Mozambicans 569
        Stephen Lubkemann

        Part XII Development, Governance, and Globalization 583

        Introduction 585

        41 Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt 595
        James Ferguson

        42 Development Aid and Structural Violence: The Case of Rwanda 609
        Peter Uvin

        43 Nigerian Scams as Political Critique: Globalization, Inequality and 419 616
        Daniel Jordan Smith

        44 The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly 629
        Jean-François Bayart

        45 “Govern Yourselves!” Democracy and Carnage in Northern Mozambique 644
        Harry G. West

        46 Nuer-American Passages 660
        Dianna Shandy

        Index 671

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